A few days later, on a morning filled with anticipation, Team Seven, each clutching their examination passes, entered the first-stage testing hall.
"Huh?"
As Naruto and his teammates were about to ascend from the second floor to the third, they noticed a large crowd gathered on the second floor.
A watermelon-headed youth in a green skintight suit stood out prominently, his voice carrying clearly through the commotion.
"Why are they all bunched up on the second floor? The exam hall is on the third floor, right?" Naruto asked, puzzled.
Sakura pointed to the distant classroom sign, explaining, "They're probably trapped by Genjutsu. The exam has already started."
"Hmph! What a bunch of fools!" Naruto scoffed confidently. "A seasoned ninja like Naruto Uzumaki would have seen through these tricks ages ago."
'As if you noticed anything yourself! You just followed Sasuke and me,' Sakura rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking.
"Let's go! Forget about these dummies," Naruto called out, waving his hand dismissively.
He was always one to meddle in others' affairs, but a group too clueless to even find the right floor hardly warranted his attention.
"With such carelessness, you'd better just stick to being a Genin."
Bang!
In the distance, the verbal argument escalated into a physical brawl.
The watermelon-headed youth was sent crashing to the ground by Kotetsu and Izumo Kamizuki, disguised as proctors, who sneered coldly, "The Chūnin Exam is a major hurdle. Little brats like you should just leave now."
"Please, let us through," the watermelon-headed youth pleaded desperately, wiping blood from his mouth.
Kotetsu remained unmoved, sneering at him. "Rock Lee, right? I've heard about you—they say you can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, only Taijutsu!"
"Someone who can only use Taijutsu should just give up on being a ninja. Save yourself the trouble of dying on a mission someday."
As he spoke, Kotetsu threw another punch at Rock Lee's face.
Hearing this, Rock Lee's eyes narrowed, his resolve to conceal his strength dissolving.
His muscles tensed, ready to retaliate, when someone moved faster than him.
Bang!
A gust of wind surged, and Naruto's figure instantly appeared between the two, gripping Kotetsu's fist.
"So fast!" Rock Lee's eyes narrowed in astonishment.
'He was originally much farther away than me, yet he moved faster than I did!'
What surprised Lee even more was that Naruto hadn't used the Body Flicker Technique.
He had relied solely on Taijutsu!
'Could this guy's Taijutsu actually be stronger than Lee's?'
The handsome, long-haired youth who had been standing silently beside Rock Lee also turned his gaze, scrutinizing Naruto from head to toe.
"You?"
Kotetsu froze at Naruto's sudden appearance, instinctively trying to yank his hand free, only to find his fist locked in Naruto's steel-like grip, immovable.
"Listen up, Teacher!"
Naruto released his grip, lifted his head, and locked eyes with Kotetsu, his voice deliberate and measured. "I don't care if you discipline this bushy-brow, but insulting Taijutsu-based ninjas? That's crossing the line!"
'It's already awakening?'
Sasuke thought to himself, his eyebrow twitching. 'As expected of the Protagonist!'
"Hmph! Mind your own business!"
Kotetsu recognized Naruto immediately, but since he was putting on an act, he decided to play the part to the end.
Cracking his knuckles, he snarled, "You've got some strength, huh? In that case, let's teach you a lesson first!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, he raised his elbow and threw a powerful punch at Naruto.
"Naruto, strike his center!"
Just as Naruto was about to counterattack and end the fight in one move, Sasuke's slightly teasing voice rang out, momentarily startling him.
Though he didn't understand why Sasuke wanted him to target the enemy's center, he followed the instruction.
Lowering his stance slightly, his spine coiling like a dragon, Naruto joined his index and middle fingers together, forming a blade-like point.
He unleashed two swift, bullet-like strikes, driving his fingertips straight into Kotetsu's arms.
Kotetsu's strength instantly drained away. His arms went numb and hung limp.
Izumo Kamizuki quickly steadied him. Kotetsu shifted, still trying to fight back, but Izumo whispered urgently, "This kid's in Kakashi's team. You probably can't beat him anyway."
Kotetsu's expression darkened. He knew well the exploits of Team Seven.
Though he hadn't used his full strength earlier, he suspected he might actually lose in a real fight.
Still, losing to a mere Genin was humiliating.
Seeing his distress, Izumo Kamizuki murmured again, "Alright, that's enough. Don't forget our mission."
With Kotetsu reluctantly complying, the two slipped away from the crowd's attention.
"Gentle Fist?"
Hyuga Neji's eyes narrowed as he watched Naruto's familiar attack style. The veins around his eyes bulged ominously.
"That's the Konoha Steel Fist!"
Naruto glanced at Neji's Byakugan, crossed his arms behind his back, and declared with an air of profound mystery, "Acupoint strikes aren't exclusive to the Gentle Fist. The Steel Fist can do it too! Mastering the body's acupoint network is a fundamental skill for any exceptional Taijutsu ninja!"
"Exactly!"
Rock Lee nodded vigorously in agreement.
Though the Eight Inner Gates only opened the body's eight major acupoints, many secondary acupoints and meridians remained active during the process.
For example, the first gate, the Gate of Opening, was located in the left cerebral hemisphere, the second gate in the right hemisphere, and the third gate, the Gate of Life, at the Prominence Acupoint on the chest.
The surging Chakra had to sequentially break through each acupoint in order.
If one were completely ignorant of other acupoints, the chakra that should have surged into the Prominence Acupoint at the Life Gate would instead flood into nearby, unrelated points like the Flowery Canopy and Chakra Dwelling.
This wouldn't be opening the gate—it would be courting death.
"Hmph!"
Hyuga Neji withdrew his Byakugan, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said coldly, "Acupoint strikes aren't exclusive to the Gentle Fist, but only the Gentle Fist can perfectly unleash their full power."
"Each style has its strengths," Naruto shrugged indifferently.
Under Chen Baojun's rigorous, two-year-long training as Konoha's top Taijutsu Jonin, Naruto had grown impatient with the old man's lectures on styles, characteristics, and classifications—theoretical knowledge he cared little for.
But the elder was old and talkative, after all.
The Gentle Fist and the Steel Fist weren't entirely opposed.
Just as Naruto's Dragon God Style Taijutsu required mastery of the body's acupoints to better unleash his blade-like, high-speed chakra vortexes, the Gentle Fist—a style focused on disrupting an opponent's chakra pathways and internal organs—also possessed physically destructive techniques like the Eight Trigrams: Void Palm and Mountain Crushing Strike, akin to the Steel Fist.
"Hey, bushy-browed guy!" Naruto sized up Rock Lee, pursed his lips. "Your hands are broad, your knuckles thick, and those bandages are medical-grade—you must train your Taijutsu relentlessly. As a Taijutsu ninja, why do you let others insult your art like that?"
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